Fuchsias

I love your new fuschias they are so pretty :O) You will have to take some cuttings and make sure they keep multiplying. I am hopeless with cuttings of anything, I keep trying though determined to get it right one day. Although after saying that I have got some carnations to root this year. lol. and even managed to get some of my seeds to grow that I saved last year, so I am obviously getting better with this gardening malarky. lol :O)

Your giant looks very like Lady Boothby to me....distinctive russet bark and an upright growth habit. mine only just survived this mild winter, although 'they' claim this one is hardy. I'm not fully convinced!

Thank you, Barbara. Yes - I shall have to remember the cuttings! When Son no. 2 was little, my Granny showed him how to strike cuttings of pinks using hormone powder. For a couple of seasons they kept appearing in the borders. He's never forgotten, although I think it's a long time since he's done any.

Thanks for that, Karen. It sounds very likely - I've googled it, and it certainly looks like it. Apparently it grows to 2 metres! I can't think when I bought it - I'm sure I didn't know it was hardy, and I've just left it in a pot. I'll have to plant it out and maybe get some fleece for the winter - apparently it's only borderline-hardy.

A lot of people grow Lady B up a small trellis support in the pot. Let me know how you get on with Rose of Denmark because I find her not very vigorous and a bit of a disappointment - hope she does better for you. I think your unnamed one might be Lena, which is hardy but lax and is good draped over a low wall if planted out in the garden. You have a lovely selection there.

(Must tell you, our pond is now under construction! Blog to follow later)

Looking forward to that Steragram!

I like the look of the Wedding Day one Melchisdec can we have another pic when it opens up.

These are all lovely. I managed to root cuttings from my Christmas Carnations in water. I also rooted 'Apple ringie', cr its correct name but here in Central Scotland that is what it is called. I think it might be some kind of Anthemis. Lucky wildlife in your garden Stera.

Thanks for that info, Stera - I might move it into a larger pot, then I can put it under cover in the winter. After googling it, I pinched out the growing tips to help it bush out a bit - we'll see how it gets on. I'll see how Rose of Denmark develops. Lena is very pretty (if that's who she is!) I shall look forward to reading about your pond.

I shall definitely put up a picture of Happy Wedding Day when it opens, Stroller - it looks very promising.

I am going to take cuttings of all these, Scotsgran - I haven't done that for years. I did manage to take cuttings from some florists' carnations a few years ago, but the plants were very tall and spindly, and not what I wanted really. I'm afraid they didn't exactly thrive!

I agree with you about Fuchsias being lovely plants. I've been growing them for many years now, and can't stop buying more and more varieties lol ...
You've got some pretty ones in your collection, but I don't know what that tall one is. There are so many similar ones that it's difficult to tell.
I hope you keep on growing Fuchsias for many more years :o)

Just remembered the Apple ringie is Southernwood or to be botanically correct Artemisia arboratum. Crushing the fine leaves sends up a wonderful camphor like scent. It is used to scent laundry in the same way as lavender.

I think I know that plant, Scotsgran, though I haven't any at the moment.

I was thinking of you, Hywel, when I saw all the fuchsias at the GC. I'm sure you wouldn't have been able to resist buying some. They were all in flower, so I tried to find ones with lots of unopened buds. My granny always chose the ones that weren't full of flowers. I always think of her when I'm buying plants. She used to save up for them and got such pleasure from her purchases. I still have a few things she planted. (She'd be pretty impressed with the size of her camellia - I'm having to get someone in to cut it down a bit later this year! It flowers at up to 15 feet!)

I think it's best to buy plants that haven't got many flowers, because you'll be able to enjoy them longer, when they come :)
I think the spring is the best time to cut a camellia, because you'll lose the flowering shoots for next year if you leave it until later.
But if it's 15 feet tall, maybe it won't matter lol ..

No - I think you're correct there, Hywel! It's always a balancing act cutting back something that has really grown a bit (lot!) more than one wants! On the one hand, I would go for the time it stops flowering, (although it's a late one, and is still flowering) but on the other hand, I don't want anyone in cutting down at this time of year - too many things will be disturbed. I have a holly and an overgrown rose (20 feet!) to do at the same time. So I shall wait till late Autumn, and risk fewer camellias next year.

It will probably be worth it, to have a better sized tree, and more flowers the following year ...

Yes - it's definitely in need of a good chop. I know it'll do it good. It's very old - it came up from Surrey in a pot in the late 60s!

Just had another read through this and seen I made a mistake. The one I thought was probably Lena is the one you labelled Rose of Denmark -(I applied the caption to the wrong photo) so I googled around for a bit and now think it might be my Rose of Denmark that's wrongly labelled.
The colour varies so much on different photos its hard to be sure. And both of them are lax growers so that doesn't help.

Well Stera, there are so many fuchsias now, it's almost impossible to keep up. If you google images of different varieties, you'll find that some of the ones that are supposed to be the same don't look it at all! They must hybridise very easily, I think. So many are sold un-named as plants for baskets. And I always either lose or mix up the labels, so I never know what I've got - and we're not just talking about fuchsias...